my favorite place

We took an evening trip to Big Meadows this week.

We saw one bear, on our way up the mountain. A scraggly looking thing. I love that on Skyline drive spotting a bear or even a family of deer is excuse enough to hit the hazard lights and come to a complete standstill in the road. Strangers smile apologetically and wave to each other from car windows. We all understand.

There was so much excitement as we arrived on the meadow. It was 7 p.m. and the latest we have ever visited. I wanted Jonny to drop me off at the meadow and then take the kids to the campground and feed them. Everyone protested.

We were all starving, but couldn’t pull ourselves away. Thunder rumbled and gray clouds floated across the sky.

We ate wild blueberries with the deer. Beatrix announced that she had found the biggest blueberry ever. Larkspur plucked it from her hand and ate it. Beatrix shouted angrily, “God would not want you to take my biggest blueberry!” Larkspur apologized and quickly found her another.

Silas learned to pick blueberries. As darkness settled we reluctantly headed out of the meadow. Silas turned back and tried to return on his own, no doubt wanting to eat more blueberries.

We ate in the dark while watching a doe and her two fawns graze nearby. The rain started to fall. We drove back to the meadow just to stand on the edge of it and smell the air. The smell of Big Meadows after dark in the rain is perfect.

Through darkness and fog we drove slowly down the mountain, knowing we’d be home way past bedtime.

Every time I see that you have taken a day trip to the park, I feel guilt that we don’t go more. We are only 45 minutes from Big Meadows and I know it has to be a longer trip for you! I’m adding to the list this week. And what a great idea to picnic!

We live in Rappahannock and have often gone to the park, but never to Big Meadow. Beautiful pictures. Hope to run into you once if you ever visit the church in Little Washington, St. Peter’s, on your way to or from the park one weekend. Have you ever been to Lake Arrowhead in Luray? That is a less wild but cute little park too, nice playground and little sandy swim area. My kids and I enjoy it.

What a wonderful outing! We don’t have wild blueberries here (or not that I’ve found!) and our deer usually aren’t that tame!
I only noticed this because we have a similar photo but is that young buck peeing?! ;o)
xoxo
~ joey ~

We went to Big Meadows last year in early August–it really is magical there! We also picked the blueberries, and we saw two mama deer and two babies–one of the larger babies was trying to nurse on both the mamas and got kicked off. It was amazing how much their behavior is like goats. I had never been able to observe deer that closely or when they were so comfortable with my presence. My son was really impressed by all the swallows there, too. It’s one of my favorite places, too.

Having visited, I now know how magical it is. I have told Dave that we must return again before we leave. Such a gorgeous place. (I do have one logistical question though. Dave was worried about ticks in the meadow. What do you do about this?)

I don’t know whether it looks more like “Blueberries for Sal” or “Emily and Daisy,” but what a wonderful place to have close to home!

We took Piper Anne blueberry picking the other week and I just parked her beside a blueberry bush and took the other kids a few bushes down to pick some that were higher up. I didn’t know how many berries she’d eat during that hour, but I *did* find out about 8 hours later. Apparently she doesn’t chew them, either! 🙂

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Hello! My name is Ginny. I believe that when you slow down and savor the small things, you don’t have to wish for a different life; you can discover beauty in the life you already have. {Find out more here…}

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I often link to resources that I and my family personally use and recommend. I participate in the Amazon associates program and if you enter Amazon.com through my blog and then make a purchase, I receive a small percentage of the sale. I never recommend a product or resource for the sole purpose of being compensated financially. If I write that we use or love something, you can trust that we do.